Mendokuse
by Atlantis Forester
Summary: [ShikaIno and slight SasuNaru] Shikamaru would like nothing better than lazing around all day playing shogi or goh and watching the clouds; some things were just too troublesome to deal with. Especially hormones.
1. Troubles of Being a Genius

**Mendokuse**

Subtitle: The Woes of a Lazy Shinobi

_A ShikaIno story_

**Summary:** (ShikaIno and slight SasuNaru) Shikamaru would like nothing better than lazing around all day playing shogi or goh and watching the clouds; some things were just too troublesome to deal with. Especially hormones. Unfortunately, if there's one thing a teenage boy can't ignore, it's that.

_Note: For those who don't know, "mendokuse" means "troublesome" - Shikamaru's favorite word. Mine too, actually._

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* * *

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Chapter One: Troubles of Being a Genius

* * *

Whoever said that geniuses had everything easy was wrong. Completely, absolutely, absurdly wrong. Obviously, the person who had said that was not a genius, or he would have realized this a long time ago.

Being a genius was definitely hard work. However, it was especially difficult for someone as lazy as Shikamaru, because it meant being constantly hounded by people who want to use you for some purpose or another. Now, this couldn't have meant any less to Shikamaru... that is, if these "purposes" had not been undeniably for the good and safety of his friends and family. Yes, being a genius was a lot more trouble than it was worth.

While at this particular subject of what exactly was troublesome, Shikamaru's generously-endowed mind jumped to the subject matter of girls. Girls were also extremely troublesome. Especially girls with pale blonde hair and pale blue eyes who like to use their fists and lungs a little too much. They had a tendency to pop into a person's mind with alarming frequency at the most inconvenient and troublesome of times.

What with genius and girls already on his back, Shikamaru reflected for the millionth time over just how troublesome his life was in general. He wanted nothing more than a peaceful, boring life; it had all been nicely planned out in his head for years. He would marry a woman who was neither ugly nor beautiful, have two children - a boy and a girl -, and retire when his children got jobs. He would then spend the rest of his life living in comfortable, steady monotony, playing shogi or go and watching clouds pass by on the hills of Konoha.

Sighing lightly, Shikamaru shifted slightly on the grass, feeling his backside getting numb. How long had he been here? Hours, probably. How many? Well, it was too troublesome to try to remember. He adjusted the puffy chuunin vest under his head that he had been using as a pillow, then returned his attention to the fluffy white clouds in the sky.

"Oy."

Sasuke had an extremely distinct way of making himself noticed, Shikamaru noted absently. "What?" he asked, not bothering to move from his spot. Sasuke didn't answer him. Shikamaru glanced at the handsome boy out of the corner of his eyes with negligent care. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't bring himself to. Shikamaru had a feeling that if Sasuke did open his mouth, things would get troublesome for him. Consequently, he fervently hoped that the Uchiha boy would stick to being quiet. If worse came to worst, Shikamaru was firmly resolved to make a quick escape.

After all, Shikamaru did have a good reason to be wary.

For some reason, after the chuunin exams, he had suddenly become the guy to talk to about other people's problems. Especially problems that involved matters of the heart. Why? This was a complete mystery to Shikamaru as well, and he was the genius with the 200 IQ. He had absolutely no talent in this area; he'd never even had a girlfriend, and he was already eighteen. So why did people constantly seek him out for advice? He really wished they wouldn't - it was too troublesome. Whenever someone came to him for his help or opinion on love, he always ended up being dragged into something he specifically wanted desperately to stay out of.

People claimed that he was extremely helpful, but Shikamaru had his doubts. As far as he could see, they had all done it by themselves; and, whenever he informed them so, they only got bright-eyed and squealed over how selfless and sweet he was despite his deceiving looks. Squealed? Oh, yes, he had forgotten to mention that this was because all - or, at least, most - of his clandestine visitors for topics of this nature were of the female sex.

But, now, out of all people, Uchiha Sasuke suddenly wanted to talk to him; and if it was anything concerning this particular boy, it was sure to be complicated as hell. Why was his life so damn troublesome?

Damn. Sasuke was opening his mouth. Damn. Close it, close it, close it, close it, close it, close it -

"Shikamaru, I need your help."

Damn. Damn it all to hell. This was exactly the way everyone else had initiated their conversation, and how ho got dragged into those troublesome situations. Damn. It was time for the escape plan.

"There's someone I..." Sasuke struggled with his words, "uh, someone I... like." A blush crept into his cheeks.

Dread filled Shikamaru from head to toe. It was too late. Damn it all. He should have left as soon as Sasuke said "oy". Now he had said one of the two L words, Shikamaru was duty-bound to stay by the unsaid rules of basic human compassion. Compassion was so troublesome, sometimes.

"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Against all likeliness, he hoped for a miracle which would snap Sasuke out of let's-talk mode.

"_Sasuke-kun_!"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, impressed. _The miracle did come_, he thought. _I should start wishing for miracles more often._

At the sound of the familiar, shrill voice calling his name, Sasuke winced visibly. "Um," he mumbled to Shikamaru, "maybe later," and ran off.

Soon, Shikamaru spotted a pink head of hair bobbing up among the trees to his right. He quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out relentlessly. "Sasuke-kun! Where are you? I made lunch for you! Oh!" She had finally spotted Shikamaru.

Shikamaru wanted to sigh. It wasn't that he disliked her; simply that she was too troublesome at times to deal with, and particularly when it concerned a certain dark-haired Uchiha. He didn't dislike Sasuke either; it was just that he was troublesome, too.

"Shikamaru? Are you sleeping?"

_Way to state the obvious_, he thought sarcastically.

From the shadow falling over his face and the clarity of the voice, Shikamaru could tell that he was leaning right over him. He made an extra effort to be still and look asleep.

Sakura sighed. "I guess I shouldn't bother him," she murmured to herself. "He's so lazy, anyways. He probably would find it too 'tiresome' to help me find Sasuke." She turned to go away, but suddenly remembered something. "Oh, that's right!" She went back to Shikamaru's side, and, to the latter's frustration, shook him awake.

_I guess there's no helping it,_ he thought, disgruntled, and cracked his eyes open. "Yeah?" he sighed.

Sakura's eye twitched. "You were awake," she stated matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru didn't say anything, though he would have liked to. He knew that what he wanted to say would just earn him a lump on his head. Girls were so troublesome.

"Anyway," she continued, "I just wanted to tell you that all the old genin teams from our year and Lee-kun's are going to have a big get-together. Some of us haven't seen each other for almost a year, after all. Even Gaara-san's team is coming. Tsunade-sama gave all of us a week off, and we're planning on spending it as a group. Ino was going to tell you, but she said that you weren't in your usual spots."

_For a reason_, Shikamaru added in his mind. He had been purposely avoiding the areas Ino knew he frequented. The last thing he would have wanted was a private meeting with Ino, right now... for various reasons.

"In any case, don't be late, tomorrow," Sakura said. "We're meeting at Ichiraku's - Naruto insisted - at twelve-thirty in the afternoon to have lunch. Well, that's that." She stopped and eyed Shikamaru suspiciously. "You do know where Sasuke-kun is, don't you?" she accused.

Shikamaru closed his eyes again and went back to sleep. "This is too troublesome," he grumbled.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And it's too troublesome to ask you," she groaned. "Bye, Shikamaru." To Shikamaru's relief, she finally left.

A meeting. Well, it would probably be rather interesting. Troublesome, yes, but he would have to go, or the girls would hunt him down and slice him into hundreds of pieces for missing an event of that had such a "sentimental" value.

"Damn," Shikamaru growled, shifting again. "And I just got back from such a troublesome mission, too."

* * *

As usual, when Shikamaru finally got around to going home, the first thing he did was go to his bed. And, as usual, it wasn't very long before his mother stomped up the stairs to his room, kicked him out of his bed, and sent him off to take a shower after giving him specific directions to go fetch his father from the bar around the corner before the old man did himself any harm.

Shikamaru became sleepy just thinking of bringing his lazy father home. Groaning, he dragged his feet all the way to the bathroom. Why was it that he was surrounded by bossy, loud, aggressive women?

"I definitely need to move out," groused Shikamaru, sullenly kicking his clothes into the laundry basket. This line of thought had often crossed his mind for the past year, but he had been too lazy to actually carry it out. He silently promised himself to go look for an apartment, soon.

Sighing, he pulled his hair loose from its tie, leaned his hands against the sink, and stared absently at his reflection in the mirror as his dark hair fell softly onto his shoulders. A remarkably unremarkable man stared back at him from smooth surface. He looked every bit the normal human being that Shikamaru wished he was. Nothing really stood out about his appearance.

_Aren't I just the luckiest guy ever?_ Shikamaru thought sarcastically. _The things about me that are considered unique aren't apparent on the surface, and I ended up falling for a girl who's obsessive about physical appearances._ Frustrated, he raked his fingers through his hair. Thoughts like these were troublesome; they complicated things in a way that was hard to fix.

He unclasped his earrings and put them down on the edge of the sink. The old, used silver glinted dully. After years in the possession of a ninja - particularly a ninja who wears them every day and at the same time undergoes fierce training sessions daily -, they were battered and worn out. Yet, Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to get rid of them or even get new ones. These were, after all, a symbol of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio. Identical versions of the plain silver hoops hung from Ino and Chouji's ears, though Ino's were in much better condition (for slightly obvious reasons).

Shikamaru allowed his thoughts to stray yet again to his energetic teammate. Ino was the antithesis of everything he had wanted for himself. She was beautiful, vivid... and terribly out or reach. Bossy, loud, and extravagant. All of these adjectives were not in his list of requirements for a love interest. She would insist on bothering him for the most insignificant reasons. She would harp at him relentlessly. She would require endless pointless displays of affection. She would complicate things unnecessarily and make mountains out of molehills. But it wasn't like any of this mattered, anyways. He was too low for her standards. After all, she was extremely popular with everyone and attracted a lot of attention from the opposite sex.

As for Shikamaru... Well, let's just leave it at the fact that he had very seriously contemplated hermitage at the tender age of fifteen.

Honestly, he rued the day Asuma had informed him that he was a genius with an IQ over 200. As the knowledge spread - that damn Asuma had blabbed during the chuunin exams -, people began to look at him differently. He started to get noticed in a crowd, pointed out, and talked to a lot more than he would have liked. They saw potential in him just the way they did in Sasuke and started to pursue him for his unique talents. After all, a mind like Shikamaru's only comes in once in a lifetime - people like Neji and Sasuke, geniuses of kekkei genkai, were much more common.

_And after all the trouble I had gone through to make myself unnoticeable,_ Shikamaru thought grumpily. All her had ever wanted to be was a perfectly average guy with perfectly average ninja skills who would only make perfectly average amounts of money. Instead, he had to deal with being the first genin in years to be promoted to chuunin in his first year, meaning that he had been elevated over the status of the "geniuses" of Konoha; then, as a chuunin, he found himself commanding squads from his very first mission; and, now, five years later, he found himself even leading jounin in important missions. Not to mention that he was technically unofficially the Godaime's right hand in strategics and planning. After Tsunade had discovered just how talented the young Nara was, she had begun to stealthily trick him into doing work for her and sending him to special training classes with jounin in tactics and other intellectually-inclined matters.

Tsunade couldn't fool Shikamaru. He was unhappily aware that the crafty woman was secretly training him to become a top-class Hokage advisor and strategist.

_Kuso mendokuse_, Shikamaru thought with irritation as he slipped into the shower. Women were so damn troublesome.

"_Shikamaru_!" A shriek from downstairs invaded his sensitive ears. "_I want you out of that shower and in the bar in less than fifteen minutes_!"

Shikamaru rolled is eyes at the shower walls. "Like I said, women are so damn troublesome," he complained to himself.

A fleeting thought crossed his mind. _I wonder what'll happen tomorrow._

_

* * *

_

Ino gave her hair a final brush before studying herself critically in her full-length mirror. _Kampeki_, she thought with satisfaction.

(_kampeki_: perfect)

A strong feeling of happiness bubbled up in her chest. Today, she would be seeing Shikamaru again after nearly two months of separation during which Tsunade had sent him on another ultra-secret mission. She had heard from Chouji that he had returned to Konoha only two days earlier.

Her smile drooped a little at that. She was disappointed and hurt that Shikamaru hadn't bothered to even let her know that he was back. Recently, she felt like they were growing farther and farther apart, and the thought frightened her. She tried to hold on to him as best as she could, visiting him every day he wasn't on a mission, but he was somehow still slipping through her fingers.

Their old close-knit trio seemed only like a shadow of a memory, now. Cold fear gripped her at the thought of losing two of her closest friends. Chouji hadn't really changed, but he was now mostly with his father, learning the full extent of his family jutsus. Shikamaru... Well, it was complicated, and she didn't quite understand it herself. He became more closed off around her, but all had been relatively well till about three months earlier.

Ino still remembered those two days with painful clarity. It had been just the end of winter, and the Naras and Akimichis had been invited to over by her parents on the weekend. It was actually a frequent occurrence, but Shikamaru hadn't participated for a very long time because of ill-timed missions. This time, however, he hadn't had any plans, and came with his parents.

She had been delighted, and insisted that he stay in the room next to hers, ignoring the sly looks her parents had been sending her way.

"_Shikamaru!" She pounced on her friend the instant he stepped inside the house. "It's been so long!" She pulled back a little and looked at him sternly in the eye. "Now that you're here, though, I'm not letting you go!"_

_Shikamaru turned slightly pink around the edges of his ears. "W-what?" he spluttered._

_Ino and Shikamaru's mothers giggled._

_Ino stuck her tongue out at him. "Shikamaru, I didn't know you were a pervert!" she exclaimed mischievously, still hanging from his neck._

_He promptly scowled. "I am not," he protested. "Mataku... this is so troublesome."_

_Ino grinned. "I'm just kidding. Anyhow, you're still staying in the room next to mine, okay? That way we can pop into each other's rooms whenever we want."_

_Shikamaru looked slightly uncomfortable. "Um, Ino... We probably shouldn't do that. We're not exactly twelve, anymore, you know."_

_Ino conveniently ignored his words. "Anyway, I already set up everything for you in there! Come look! Chouji's already raiding the kitchen, so he won't want to be bothered for a while." She tugged on his arm and looked back at everyone. "We'll be going on up, okay?"_

_Poor Shikamaru got all flustered when he saw his mother wink conspiratorially at him. "Um, actually... I should probably -" Before he could finish his sentence, Ino had already dragged him halfway up the stairs._

"_This is so great," she chattered enthusiatically. "Your parents decided to stay on the first floor with my parents, so you, Chouji, and I have the entire second floor to ourselves. Though," she added as an afterthought, "Chouji will probably want to stay downstairs in the kitchen all day."_

_Shikamaru suddenly tripped on nothing. Ino stared at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you okay?"_

_He looked at her with widened eyes. "We... we'll be all alone on the second floor?" he choked._

_Ino was offended. "You don't have to look so upset," she snapped. "Mou, Shikamaru, you really know how to ruin a girl's mood."_

_Shikamaru turned away. "Um, that's my room, right?" he said hurriedly. "I think I'm going to turn in, for now."_

"_It's only four in the afternoon!"_

"_I'm kind of tired from my last mission," Shikamaru coughed._

"_Oh, ok." Ino instantly changed her demeanor and looked at him with concern. "You'd better go in, then. I'll tuck you in."_

_Shikamaru frowned. "I'm not five, you know," he said tartly._

"_I know," Ino said, insulted. "I just feel like doing it. It feels nice when someone tucks you in bed, though - that's why I offered."_

_Shikamaru's eyes softened. His lips stretched into the tiniest of smiles. "That's cute."_

_Ino blushed. "What?" she said disbelievingly. "D-did you just say..."_

_Without an answer, Shikamaru disappeared into his room, leaving a red-faced Ino in the hallway._

_The next morning, Ino saw neither hide nor hair of him. She checked his room, but it was empty. She waited all day for him, but he never came. By the time the sun had set, Ino was in a foul mood._

"_Just wait until I get my hands on that infuriating idiot," she muttered to herself as she peeled her clothes off and threw them on her bed. Since no one was on the second floor, she decided that it was safe to use the big bathroom at the other end of the hall. It wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes, anyway._

_The first thing she wondered when she opened the door was why there was steam coming out of the bathroom when she didn't hear the sound of the shower. Curious, she stepped inside and clutched her towel tighter around herself before walking further on to the shower. _Maybe Okaa-chan took a shower and left the water running,_ she thought. What she saw made her jaw drop and freeze in her steps._

_Shikamaru was standing there, facing mirror and sink, staring at nothing in particular. His gaze was distant and dreamy, and he was obviously not paying attention. His damp hair hung loose and soft down to his shoulders, and drops of water still clung to his bare skin. All he wore was a thin, white towel barely hanging on his slim hips._

_Ino's eyes traced slowly over his sleek form, conditioned by years of ninja training, and suddenly felt the urge to bury her fingers in his thick, dark hair. She felt something stir inside her, and her heart pounded against her ribcage._

_She squeaked._

_At the sound, Shikamaru started and glanced to his left. The sight that greeted his eyes made him swallow hard. Ino was frozen before him, large expanses of skin bared to the humid, warm air. She was richly yet softly curved, her eyes a startling contrast to her pale skin and hair._

_They stared at each other for a few more minutes before what was happening registered fully in their minds._ _Ino really couldn't help it. Automatically, she opened her mouth and screamed. At the same time, Shikamaru let out a terrific yell._

_Seconds after, they heard the sounds of approaching, hurried footsteps. Wide-eyed, they realized their mistake and simultaneously made a dash to the door to lock it. Being found together half-naked in the bathroom by everyone in the house was not an option. However, it didn't turn out exactly the way they had meant it to. At the last minute, Ino slipped and gripped the towel rack so as to not fall and break her face on the floor. Shikamaru, not expecting this, slammed into her, pressing her tightly to the wall. They stared at each other, red-faced, fully aware of the intimate contact of their bodies._

_Before they knew it, their parents and the Akimichis slammed the bathroom door open, expecting some kind of danger. They were stunned by what they saw._

"_Oh," was all that the poor, laid-back fathers of Ino and Shikamaru could say._

_Chouji grinned. "Wow, Shikamaru, I never knew you had it in you! I guess the quiet ones really are -" Before he could say anything else, his gigantic father clapped his hand over his son's mouth._

"_Let's go," he suggested to the others. "Sorry for, uh, disturbing you." They all hastily moved out and shut the door tightly behind them._

"_S-sorry," Shikamaru muttered, pulling away. He politely turned his head from her. "This is so troublesome," he muttered, still a bright shade of red._

"_N-no," Ino stammered back, clutching her towel so tightly that she was sure the fabric would rip. "I'm sorry. I-it was my f-fault."_

_She ran away before Shikamaru could say anything else._

Just the memory of the event made the blood rush up to her face. Since then, she hadn't been able to wipe the image of Shikamaru, wet from the shower and pretty much in the nude, from her mind.

The rest of the weekend had been terribly awkward. They had cleared out everything with their dubious parents and apologized fervently to each other, but they couldn't help feeling strange and uncomfortable around each other and spent most of the time locking themselves away in their rooms. For a month, they had avoided each other like the plague, and then Shikamaru had left on a long mission. Ino hadn't had the opportunity to say goodbye to him because he had gone without warning. Basically, it meant that she hadn't spoken to him since that weekend.

Another memory came to mind. After the incident, Shikamaru had assured her that he thought of her as nothing but a friend. The memory still stung. She had run away from him that day, too. Ino still couldn't understand why she had done that, but she could remember the heaviness in her lungs and the sobs that had later wracked her frame.

At first, she had wondered if it was because she had feelings for Shikamaru. She had actually wondered about this many times over the past five years, ever since he had made his shall we say "grand debut" in the chuunin exams at the age of thirteen. It was then that people began noticing him and setting him apart for his brilliance. For some reason, Ino had felt unreasonably jealous when other girls approached him to compliment him on his performance. She knew she should have been happy for him, but she couldn't help the rising anger inside her when a somewhat pretty girl obviously found his scowl and grumpy mannerisms cute and amusing; Ino had always been good at reading the signs of a crush, since she was an expert in matters of love. The one person she couldn't really see through was Shikamaru. No matter what he did, it was impossible to tell what he was really thinking.

But every time, she had dismissed the possibility of her having feelings for him. It just wasn't likely. Lazy, infuriating, sarcastic Shikamaru? No way. He was just an important friend, and the explanation satisfied her at each moment of doubt.

Ino was determined to act normal when she arrived at the gathering at Ichiraku's. After all, Sasuke would be there.

* * *

Shikamaru looked around and sighed. The place was empty. Great. It was just his luck that his mother had decided to adjust the time on his alarm clock so that he wouldn't be late.

"How troublesome," he muttered as he took a seat at a table and looked around. Ichiraku had expanded, since, because a promoted Naruto had brought unexpectedly good business to the place. Now they had a full-blown restaurant, and were very popular with the younger generation. With a sigh, Shikamaru closed his eyes and decided to take a nap.

"Shikamaru-kun?"

Shikamaru opened his eyes. Tenten was standing in front of him, bright and fresh- looking in a light, flowery summer dress. For once, her hair was down and flowing, and she was holding a small purse which matched her dress perfectly. "Tenten," he acknowledged. "It's been a long time."

Before she could say anything, a group of girls arrived. "Ohayo, Tenten!" Sakura greeted, then stared down at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru. You're early!" she exclaimed, startled.

"It's not my fault," Shikamaru grumbled. "My clock was about thirty minutes too fast. Damn mothers."

"Ohayo, Shikamaru-kun," Hinata said shyly.

"Ohayo, Hinata-chan." Shikamaru suddenly realized that he didn't know more than half of the girls who were accompanying the pink-haired kunoichi and the Hyuuga heir. "Um..."

Sakura noticed the problem first. "Shikamaru, don't you remember everyone?" she demanded.

Shikamaru scratched his head. "No... Should I?" he asked.

Sakura gave him a reproachful look. "They're you old classmates from the Academy!"

"Really?" Shikamaru was surprised. "Sorry, you all grew up so much, I didn't recognize you." Inwardly, he groaned. _Great, more girls_, he complained.

There was a general chorus of giggles. "It's okay," one spoke up. She had light brown hair tied into a high ponytail and blue eyes. "We all remember you, Shikamaru-kun. You've made quite a name for yourself." She giggled again.

_I have?_ Shikamaru wondered. A feeling of suspicion rose inside him. _I don't remember being all too popular back at school. How would they remember me? I was pretty much invisible, wasn't I?_ He stared at the bunch of tittering girls. _And was what I said really _that_ funny?_

Tenten hadn't seen her sullen underclassman since the chuunin exams which took place when she was fourteen. She had crossed paths with her other younger friends - many times, actually - over the years, but, for some reason, Shikamaru was much harder to run into. According to Chouji, this was mainly due to Shikamaru's reticent personality - the young genius was like an old man in a young body. In the girls-only days she had with Ino and Sakura (both whom she had gotten close to; after all, until she had met them, she had been mostly surrounded by boys because she had been the only girl in her year to become a genin right after graduation), the former often complained that Shikamaru alienated himself from his friends too much. Tenten briefly wondered why it was that the geniuses of Konoha were always antisocial and solitary in nature; Neji was also a prime example.

She had expected for some change to have taken place in Shikamaru, but the result still took her by surprise. His mind, disposition to others, and general behaviour seemed no different from before, but his physical appearance and presence had greatly altered. The features that had been perfectly suited for scowling and various other facial contortions of annoyance had spread and smoothed over supple, sculpted planes of dusky skin. Her attention was especially drawn to his strangely alluring dark eyes and the curve of his full lips - edges tugged down to achieve that distinct look of discontent ever-present on his face -, which gave an oddly sultry quality to his scowl. His dark hair was still as prickly as ever - Tenten used to wonder if hair really did represent the owner's character; in Shikamaru's case, it certainly did -, but for some reason, it now made him strangely appealing to the visual senses.

Like all shinobi, he was built for speed and strength, but his posture was more slumped and relaxed - very much like Kakashi-sensei's - and everything about him screamed idleness and boredom. He had also really shot up in height; he could have easily towered over Naruto, who hadn't really grown much throughout the years and was a little vertically challenged, to tell the truth. Shikamaru was even on par with Kiba and Shino, who were both extremely tall. However, Tenten was startled to find herself wishing that he wasn't wearing his chuunin vest, thus exposing the net he wore underneath which, honestly, couldn't really be counted as a real piece of clothing. A quick glance around her gave her the strong suspicion that the other females in the group were thinking along the same lines.

"Handsome" would not have been quite the right word to describe Shikamaru, Tenten realized. She pondered for a few minutes before into her mind. Sensual. Yes, there was something she couldn't quite put her finger on which was very sexual about him.

She smiled. _How people do grow_, she thought whimsically.

Meanwhile, Sakura was highly amused at the attention the grouchy chuunin was getting from her friends. _You would have never thought that things would turn out this way_, she reflected. A quick glance at Shikamaru told her that, at the moment, he would have liked nothing better than taking a nap and was annoyed by the sudden invasion of his personal space.

It was true that the way Shikamaru had grown had taken everyone by surprise. After all, who would have thought that surliness could be so oddly alluring? And Shikamaru hadn't been the only one to take people unaware. The entire group of "losers" from the Academy had taken the spotlight since graduation. Naruto was beyond doubt one of the most powerful ninja of Konoha, and he was still progressing steadily. His dream of becoming Hokage didn't seem so unrealistic, now, what with being so strong and the well-known favorite of the Godaime. Today, to laugh at his ambitions would be proof of deep-rooted idiocy. Kiba was extremely strong and acknowledged as the most promising heir of the Inuzuka Clan since his legendary ancestor. As for Chouji, ever since he mastered his father's special jutsu, he became an indispensable tool for the protection of Konoha.

Lee became a symbol of strength and courage for the entire village. Tales of his tribulations spread throughout the village, and there was a new sense of respect for him. His nindo inspired many people, and caused a major upheaval among the students of the Academy and his former classmates. Without knowing it, Lee had given a reason to people who were considered "average" and who had no motivation to work hard. The adults were pleased by his influence and found him a source for a new zeal to educate and train their young subordinates

(nindo: way of the ninja)

Sasuke became unbelievably strong, too, but was no longer labeled as the strongest of his generation. Naruto had him beat in that category. However, Sasuke still monopolized the domain of male good looks with his naturally silky ebony hair, fierce dark eyes, and pale skin. For her part, Sakura decided to follow the path of medic-nin, and found herself well- suited to the nurturing role. She was by no means a genius like her former teammates, and had a very normal reserve of chakra, but she had trained her sharp mind into a veritable treasure-trove of jutsus and techniques. Besides, being a medic-nin required a lot of memorization. Anatomy was a highly complex subject of study, and Sakura was well- equipped to deal with this kind of knowledge.

Ino was in a different category from her friends, however. Her mind-controlling family specialty jutsus were an important advantage for Konoha. She had a subtlety and mastery of manipulation that were extremely useful in undercover missions and espionage. Her extensive experience in the field of femininity also was an essential factor in her popularity as a spy. With only a few cosmetics, she could completely alter her appearance and still look completely natural instead of suffocating behind special masks which had the dangerous possibility of chipping or flaking.

Hinata had worked hard for years to achieve the level of a worthy Hyuuga head of family with Hiashi and Neji's steady guidance. She also dabbled in the medical arts with Sakura, using her Byakugan as a tool to better analyze someone's state in a critical condition. Hinata had even discovered a way to repair chakra systems thanks to her eyes, and heightened the efficiency of her healing creams. She often worked with Sakura, and they had become good friends, despite the large differences in their characters.

Tenten trained hard, as well, and became the best marks-woman in all of Konoha. Having learned her lesson in the match against Temari five years ago, she also expanded her field of expertise into difficult jutsus. The elders were seriously considering her as a candidate for the position of a hunter-nin because of her accuracy with senbon needles and her skill at concealment.

Neji had found a new place in the Hyuuga family as the future head's most favored cousin and as a prized student of Hyuuga Hiashi, who took special pleasure in training such a talented young man. It was likely that when Hinata would take her position as leader, Neji would be given an extremely important role in the family. This prestige attributed to the genius made everyone address him with the same reverence they did his gentle cousin. Neji also put an end to the fear of the Hyuugas that in having a subdued, soft-spoken leader like Hinata, their importance in Konoha would decline. Having Neji, the clan's strongest member, by Hinata's side was like an assurance that the Hyuuga Clan would continue to prosper, and, in turn, Hinata's sweet and compassionate hand would pacify him and keep him under control.

Temari, the only girl in that circle of friends from a different country, gained a reputation as a analytical genius, and was aiming to become the first female Kazekage. Things seemed favorable for her, as she was the former Kazekage's daughter and had a particular talent for organization and leadership. After Gaara and Naruto's confrontation, she had strengthened her relationship with her two brothers and discovered a strangely strong sense of family within. Gaara had blossomed in the new environment he was surrounded by. He was now much gentler, and everyone discovered that he actually was loving and trusting in nature, much like Naruto, though they had to dig deep to find this side of him. Five years of care and new, solid friendships brought out a will of iron that tamed even the demon inside. He and Naruto had worked together to control the demons within, and the effort had been worthwhile. Gaara could now sleep peacefully. He was still frightening in his own way and a powerful enemy, but no threat to those close to him.

As for what remained of the legendary nine rookie genins of Konoha who saved the country... Well, Shino was Shino. He was the one who changed the least. Having already attained a grave maturity at the age of twelve, all that was left for him was improving his skills. Which he did like he did all things. Very quietly. Er, which also leads us to wonder about what other things he did quietly, anyway. Ahem.

Their teachers continued to do what they always did; after all, they had already undergone the great period of change in their lives. It was no surprise when Kakashi and Iruka got together; the couple caused a sensation in the peaceful village, but they had too much respect for the Academy teacher to badmouth him and feared the reputation of the infamous Copy Ninja. Kurenai and Asuma were still playing their little game of touch-and- go, much to the frustration of their students. Gai took on a new team of genin, of whom two decided to don the formidable green bodysuit and orange stockings, and bleached their teeth a brilliant white.

Sakura smiled. Change was a frightening thing, but can often be for the better. She felt incredibly lucky to be in the midst of all these positive changes, though she sometimes missed the old days.

She smiled even wider when she saw her fashionable light-blonde friend enter Ichiraku. From the look the girl was giving her former teammate who was the center of attention in the restaurant, Sakura had a feeling that, soon, another pleasant change would occur.

* * *

A.N. Please review me and tell me what you think! I've been planning on writing this for a long time... I hope I didn't stuff in too much stuff for just one chapter. Writing Shikamaru is strangely addictive, I must say (I know I said that in the author's note in my one-shot ShikaIno fic, but I can't help saying it again). By the way, does anyone know when the third Naruto OST will come out?


	2. The Trouble With Blue Eyed Blonds

**Mendokuse**

* * *

Subtitle: The Woes of a Lazy Shinobi

_A ShikaIno story_**

* * *

**

**Summary:** (ShikaIno and slight SasuNaru) Shikamaru would like nothing better than lazing around all day playing shogi or goh and watching the clouds; some things were just too troublesome to deal with. Especially hormones. Unfortunately, if there's one thing a teenage boy can't ignore, it's that.

_Note: For those who don't know, "mendokuse" means "troublesome" - Shikamaru's favorite word. Mine too, actually._

* * *

Chapter Two: The Trouble With Blue-Eyed Blonds/Blondes

* * *

Sasuke calmly trailed after a frantic, hurried Naruto. Over time, he had found that this was one of the best ways to devour the attractive blond with his eyes without being noticed. After all, who could accuse him of anything when he was just looking straight ahead like any other wandering person would? The young Uchiha had developed and honed his Naruto-watching skills like no other; he had even mastered manipulating the blond boy into going to anonsen with him in a record time of ten minutes. Onsen plus Naruto equals Naruto in an itty bitty towel. Naruto in an itty bitty towel equals sinfully happy Sasuke.

(onsen: natural hot springs)

What would the people of Konoha say if they knew that the only heir of the prestigious, tragic Uchiha Clan was a dirty-minded voyeur? In any case, Sasuke didn't want to take any risks because he wanted Naruto's chances of finding out his little secret to stay minimal, at the most.

Years under the tutelage of Kakashi-sensei had unconsciously transformed the reserved, proud boy into a veritable closet pervert. It wasn't an unexpected development, especially in an almost fully-fledged male adult who desired something that has no possibility of being acquired. In such cases, there was no other option than to find satisfaction with imagination; and, to be sure, behind Sasuke's cool exterior lay an astounding proficiency for creativity.

"Sasuke no yaro!" Naruto yelled angrily as he dashed from rooftop to rooftop, jolting Sasuke out of his reverie. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? Now we're going to be late!"

"Hn," Sasuke responded coolly. "Don't try to make me responsible for your stupidity, dobe."

"Teme -" Naruto flushed angrily and glared back at his dark-haired friend. "You're late, too, you know!"

"If you're so self-conscious about being late, then why don't you pick up your pace?" Sasuke asked tauntingly. "Even rookie Academy students can run faster."

"If I'm going so slow, then why are you running at the exact same pace?" Naruto snapped back.

"Hn. Usuratonkachi." Sasuke's insult very conveniently allowed him to evade the blond's question.

A vein throbbed on Naruto's temple. Did Sasuke really think he was that stupid? Honestly, sometimes the dark-haired chuunin really lacked originality. It was just his luck to have fallen for a cold, sarcastic ninja with a bit of a superiority complex. Sometimes Naruto wondered if he had been created for the sole purpose of amusing some higher power with a sadistic sense of humor. He could almost see the annoying little bastard, sitting on his fluffy white cloud, stroking his fluffy white beard and laughing himself to tears. Or herself. Itself? Maybe a hermaphrodite? Oh, well. He didn't really care, anyway. In any case, being irresistibly attracted to an arrogant jerk - a _male_ jerk, mind you - just plain outright sucked.

Naruto allowed himself to glance back at his silent companion. Well, at least he was a very good-looking male jerk. His glossy, silken hair flew wildly into his dark eyes, which were staring directly back at Naruto's bright blue ones. Naruto quickly whipped his head back, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Damn that Sasuke for having such downright sexual magnetism.

He was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts by an arm circling his waist and a warm hand slipping in between his thighs. Naruto literally froze in midair and dropped onto a roof, blushing furiously and craning his head back to stare at his companion in disbelief. "S-Sasuke," he stammered. He couldn't decide whether to slap him or let him do whatever he wanted.

The dark-eyed shinobi was expressionless. He squeezed the scarlet-faced blond's thigh reproachingly. Naruto's breath was already slightly quick from the run, but he found it speeding up even more. "Stay still, dobe," he ordered, his voice low and throaty. "Your kunai pouch is loose. It was about to fall off."

"O-oh." Naruto was slightly disappointed, but not all that surprised. Close contact between them was actually quite commonplace. Over the years, Sasuke had developed the habit of automatically fixing Naruto's gear or appearance; it simply felt so natural that it was never commented on. Naruto also reciprocated this familiar, almost intimate touch, though motivated by a different purpose; those seductive, lingering seconds of contact somewhat satisfied small parts of him that yearned for a more than platonic relationship with the Uchiha prodigy.

Sasuke's long, graceful, pale fingers finished tightening the strap and trailed slowly up and around along Naruto's leg and hip as Sasuke straightened up. Oblivious to the bold thoughts which were rather obviously running through the Uchiha's mind, Naruto shivered lightly, savoring the feeling.

Gathering his senses, Sasuke quickly withdrew his hand with a faint blush tickling his cheeks. Glancing at the slightly breathless blond beside him, he found himself thanking whatever benevolent super-being was watching over him for the millionth time that Naruto was so unbelievably dense. This was exactly the reason why he'd needed Shikamaru's help, though. Sasuke had found through observation that there was no better actor (or liar, if you would have it) than the young strategist, and at the rate his self-control was going, he would need to develop his acting skills - not to mention his self-control , fast.

Tearing his eyes away from the alluring sight of the slightly disheveled and gently panting Naruto, Sasuke swallowed hard. Yes, he really needed Shikamaru to teach him his perfected art of looking unaffected by any situation whatsoever. Absolute restraint was imperative, at this point.

"Let's go," Sasuke growled before dashing off.

* * *

Shikamaru really hated his flak jacket, sometimes. There was something fishy about flak jackets that seemed to attract troublesome matters to their owners -which were, by the way, entirely too troublesome to even think about. Oh, and Shikamaru also was entirely disgusted by his prickly hair. Funny thing was... he'd never had a problem with it, before. At least, not until girls - who are generally a race much too troublesome to deal with - decided that it was "cute" - an extremely troublesome adjective that he thoroughly disliked - and started playing with it - a troublesome action that required a troublesome burst of effort to put his troublesome mass of unattractive black strands back together in a remotely presentable manner before a certain troublesome, blonde former teammate appeared.

Shikamaru scowled. Scowling was his only solace, right now. Anything else would have required much too much effort. So he scowled and scowled away with all his might, in hopes of driving off the horde of troublesome girls as far as the other side of town.

"Shikamaru, you lazy bastard," a familiar, rumbling voice said with a laugh, accompanied by a loud crunch. "Only you can manage to be drowsy and grumpy when you're surrounded by pretty girls."

Said pretty girls tittered in the background and smiled in welcome at the newcomer.

"Chouji?" Grateful for an excuse to escape the giggling group of girls, Shikamaru pushed himself up from his chair and went to greet his friend.

Chouji grinned at his long-time friend around a mouthful of chips. His round cheeks were still decorated with the painted Konoha swirls, and he looked so downright happy when he smiled that poor, miserable, sleep-deprived Shikamaru felt terribly envious of him.

"Long time no see," Shikamaru grunted.

With a flick of experienced fingers, Chouji sent a whole barrage of chips flying into his mouth. "Yeah, you haven't come around to visit in ages. Ino's been complaining about it," he said.

"Really?" Shikamaru asked, effectively concealing his surprise with a mask of utter disinterest.

Chouji momentarily abandoned his bag of chips to sling an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "Yeah," he chuckled. "I've been your replacement while you were gone. Ino came around to see me almost every day to complain. I don't know how you deal with it. I'm really glad you're back; now she'll finally stop nagging me with her Sasuke problems."

"Shikamaru-kun!" One of Sakura's friends slipped her arms around Shikamaru's free one. "This is so exciting! I heard that you went on a dangerous mission in the Wind Country specially assigned by Hokage-sama! Is it true?"

Shikamaru winced. So this was what Sasuke must have been going through all these years. It sure was annoying, and the girl had only said his name. "Aa," he grumbled reluctantly.

"That's so cool, Shikamaru-kun! I can't even _begin_ to imagine how important that must have -"

She was interrupted by Chouji's sudden roar of laughter.

"S-she called you 'Shikamaru-kun'!" Chouji managed to choke out after a few minutes during which people stared at him in puzzlement.

"And?" the girl said defensively. "That's normal. He's my former classmate."

Chouji's eyes were filled with tears of hilarity. "Yeah, but you used _that_ voice," he answered back, still shaking with laughter. "You know, the '_Sasuke-kun_' voice!" To prove his point, he had imitated a girl's squeal when he had said the Uchiha's name.

"Chouji," Shikamaru mumbled with embarrassment, "people are looking."

"Shikamaru, seriously, what's up with you, lately?" Chouji asked, highly amused. "First, it's Ino in a towel, and then it's all these girls fawning over you in a ramen shop! When did you become such a lady-killer?"

Shikamaru turned cherry red - face, ears, neck and all. "_Chouji_!" he hissed.

While Chouji had been talking - let's not forget rather loudly , everyone had turned their attention to the threesome. The girl hanging on Shikamaru's arm looked at him with wide eyes. "What's this about Ino-chan?" she wanted to know.

Shikamaru jerked himself free from her grasp. "It's nothing," he said quickly, trying in vain to rid his face of its dark pink tinge. "Chouji doesn't know what he's talking about." He glared at said Chouji. "Isn't that _right_, Chouji?"

Chouji got the hint from Shikamaru's murderous glare. Suppressing his desire to laugh some more, he quietly returned to his forgotten bag of chips. "Er, yes, of course," he said in a subdued manner.

_Too late_, Shikamaru thought spitefully. Damn it all, he knew he shouldn't have come. He had been getting a troublesome vibe from the entire business from the very beginning. Next time... well, there wouldn't be a next time. Shikamaru would personally take care of that.

"Isashiburi ne, Shikamaru?" A female voice said somewhat coldly. It was an all-too-  
familiar sound.

Shikamaru swallowed. "Hey, Ino," he said a little weakly.

Chouji paled. "Uh... hi, Ino," he said.

Ino looked so angry right then that Shikamaru and Chouji felt sure that she would make them strangle each other to death with her family jutsu.

"I'd like a word with you two," she said in a dangerously soft voice, pointedly ignoring everyone around her. Swivelling sharply on her heel, she stormed out with two miserable and apprehensive ninja dragging behind her.

"_How dare you?_" were the first words out of her mouth as she reached a secluded corner in a nearby alley.

Shikamaru opened his mouth in protest. "I didn't say anything! Chouji just suddenly -"

"I don't care who said it!" Ino shouted. "The point is that you have both publicly humiliated me in front of both strangers _and_ friends! I can't believe you two! Don't you have any sense of decency? Noweveryone will think that I -" she spluttered for a split second and turned slightly red "- that I had some kind of sexual relationship with _Shikamaru_, of all people! What will people think? And..." Dread suddenly filled her face. "Oh, no... Was Sasuke-kun there? Please tell me he wasn't there! What must he be thinking, right now? Oh, god, he must think I'm a completely shameless tramp!" She burst into tears.

Shikamaru and Chouji stared for a minute before remembering their roles as friends and reaching out to her to pat her back and mutter gruff little "sorry"s.

_What a wonderful way to sweep Ino off her feet_, Shikamaru thought sourly to himself. _This is the first time you see her after a long time... and you made her cry. Shikamaru, you idiot._

To top everything off, Chouji ended up being the one who was able to truly console Ino. "Ino, Sasuke isn't here, yet. He didn't hear anything. So don't worry, okay?"

Meanwhile, Shikamaru realized something and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, '_Shikamaru_, of all people'?" he demanded, slightly hurt.

Ino glared at him through red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes. "I don't think you're in a position to feel annoyed, right now." she snapped. "Besides, you know exactly what I mean."

"No, I don't think I do," Shikamaru replied, his lips pressed tightly together. "Anyway, this conversation is pointless. I'm going back to Ichiraku. I'll see you later, when you're over your little tantrum." And with that, he left.

Ino gaped after him in disbelief. "Why that insensitive bastard!" she said angrily. "Why is _he_ so touchy, all of a sudden?"

"Well," Chouji ventured cautiously, "I think he's been having a bad day. And you have to admit that what you said was a little mean."

Ino narrowed her bright blue eyes. "Really?" she said sarcastically. "It didn't seem like it, from what I saw. He didn't even notice that I had arrived, since he was hanging all over all those girls."

_Ah_, Chouji thought, face carefully neutral. As likely as not, this was probably the _real_ little thorn in Ino's side, though she may not really realize it. "Er, Ino, I think it was more the other way around. We all know that Shikamaru's not really all that into flirting." As a matter of fact, the mere idea of Shikamaru trying to flirt was enough to knock Chouji out with laughter.

"Oh, please, spare me," Ino retorted. "He was obviously enjoying all the attention bestowed oh-so-lovingly to him by that air-headed Naomi and her stupid friends." She scoffed as she said the girl's name. "Speaking of which, Naomi _still_ hasn't succeeded in becoming a genin, and she's just one year younger than me."

"A lot of people are still struggling with becoming genin," Chouji reminded her. "We shouldn't make fun of them just because we were lucky enough to have Shikamaru on our team."

Ino set her chin stubbornly and didn't answer. "Let's go, Chouji," she said, storming in the same direction Shikamaru had gone.

"How troublesome," Chouji said to himself with a sigh.

* * *

Sakura waited anxiously at the door. Where were Sasuke and Naruto? This get-together was _not_ going the way she, Tenten and Hinata had planned. Already, it was obvious that Ino had fought with her former teammates. Shikamaru was sleeping away his troubles on one of Ichiraku's benches, and Chouji was bleeding the restaurant dry of ramen, which is no small feat. Meanwhile, Kiba had started a round of strip poker with a group of girls, Neji was getting upset that he was wasting his time, and Hinata was worrying herself dizzy about some disquieting family business.

_I never should have brought the girls from the Academy_, she thought sorrowfully as she watched Kiba collect their clothes with glee as he won game after game. She wouldn't be surprised if Ichiraku's amazingly tolerant owner banned them from here, forever.

"_Sakura-chan_!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura greeted her friends happily, relief washing over her like a cool wave. "You're here!"

"Where's Shikamaru?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura blinked. "Shikamaru? He's over there, in the back, sleeping. Why?"

"Hn," was all that Sasuke deigned as an answer before he swept off to wake up the lazy Nara, barely blinking at the strange sight of Kiba sitting in a circle of half-naked girls.

Naruto didn't take it in as easily. "Sakura, what's going on?"

Sakura sighed. "Let's not talk about it. I'm just glad that you and Sasuke are finally here." She turned around. "Hey, everyone's here," she called out loudly over the noise and commotion, "so let's get moving before we get kicked out."

From behind the counter, the cooks, waiters and waitresses sighed in relief.

* * *

Shikamaru glared at the dark-haired shinobi who had shaken him out of blissful unconsciousness. "What was so important that you had to shake me like that?" he demanded grouchily. He distantly took note of Sakura's announcement and the gradual emptying of Ichiraku.

Sasuke crouched down next to Shikamaru's slumped form. "Listen, do you remember when I was trying to talk to you earlier?" he said in a low voice.

Shikamaru stared at him. _Not this again_, he thought unhappily. "No," he lied, "I don't remember." Before Sasuke could say anything else, he added, "We'd better leave before Sakura bursts a vein or something," and swiftly made his escape towards the door.

"Wait, Nara!" Sasuke caught up with him outside the door and dragged him to the side. "This is really important. Just give me five minutes."

"Yeah, okay," Shikamaru sighed. "What is it?"

Sasuke swallowed, suddenly slightly embarrassed. "Well, I need your help," he muttered reluctantly.

"You've already said that, before. Tch, this is so troublesome."

Sasuke glared at him. "I should have expected this of you. You do remember, don't you!"

Shikamaru yawned and rubbed his eyes. "In case you didn't realize, it's troublesome for a ninja to forget things. Little details can cost you your life in this line of work."

Sasuke forced himself to calm down and tried to repress the urge to hit Shikamaru. "Alright, then," he said, "you remember that I said that I, uh, liked someone, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, lately," Sasuke struggled to find the right words, "I've been... well, I've been kind of losing control of myself."

"That sounds perverted."

"Yeah it - wait, no!" Sasuke took in a deep breath. "I mean, yes, it's kind of like that." He looked away, slightly pink in the face. "Look, I've noticed that you never seem to have these kinds of problems, so maybe you can help me."

Shikamaru blinked. He briefly thought of Ino dressed in nothing but a little blue towel. "Uh, I guess," he said. _Not really_, he added inwardly. But he would never admit it to anyone. "Well, what kind of 'losing control' do you mean, really?"

Sasuke started to feel that this conversation was taking a very awkward turn. _It's necessary if you want to overcome the obstacle_, he reminded himself. _A shinobi must always be prepared to make sacrifices for a greater good._ "I've been... making intimate contact," he said. "Just... touching things I shouldn't, I guess. And I've barely restrained myself from kissing -"

"She _let_ you?" Shikamaru interrupted, startled.

"She?" Sasuke was equally startled before he caught himself. "I mean, er, yes, she has."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows. "Well," he said, "I don't really see your problem if she's _letting_ you touch her intimately. Have you touched her breasts or something?"

Trying to put his jumbled thoughts together in a seemly order, Sasuke thoughtlessly replied, "No, more like the butt and between the thighs." _He's a guy, he doesn't have breasts_, he thought reasonably.

Shikamaru gaped at him. "Between the _thighs_? Are you crazy? And she didn't say anything?"

Sasuke realized what he had said and turned redder. "Well, no."

"No slap, no screaming... no nothing?" Shikamaru weakly clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Honestly, Uchiha, if a girl lets your hands wander to a place a private as between her thighs, that's a blatant, flashing 'Welcome' sign."

_But what if it's a guy?_ Sasuke thought desperately.

"I mean, that's a really private place for guys as well as girls, so you can just imagine how sensitive it must be for a girl," Shikamaru continued.

Sasuke's mind went blank. _Is Naruto actually giving me a 'Welcome' sign when he lets me do that?_ His brain whirled with a million different possibilities, and they all boiled down to one question: did Naruto actually reciprocate his feelings? Another thing occurred to him. "Well, what if she's extremely dense?" he asked cautiously.

"You're so troublesome. Being dense has nothing to do with it," Shikamaru threw back. "This kind of thing is controlled by human instinct. If she doesn't like you, that zone is a no-no, but since she does, she lets you. It doesn't have much to do with rational thought."

"I'd used his - er, I mean her - kunai strap as an excuse, though," Sasuke said forlornly. "So it's not sure, really."

Shikamaru waved it off. "Girls are pretty perceptive when it comes to stuff like that, though," he said. "It's nothing to worry about."

_But what if it's a guy?_ Sasuke felt like yelling.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Besides, it's _you_ of all people. I doubt any girl would refuse Uchiha Sasuke, really."

Sasuke felt like beating his head against a wall. _But Naruto's not a girl_...

"If you really feel that you need to learn more self-control, though, I guess you could go do stuff like fight bears in the mountain and sit under waterfalls."

"Are you making fun of me?" Sasuke demanded angrily. "This is serious!"

"This is so damn troublesome. Relax, Uchiha. If you want real advice, here: the only way to learn self-control is to practice. It's as simple as that. And if you're thinking of it as intensive training or something, you could meditate regularly. But, in all honesty, I think you should just go for it, since she seems to be all yours already. Self-control can be an asset where it concerns our job, but you have to remember that everyday life is different from a mission. People appreciate frankness and genuine actions more than carefully thought-out plans and underhand schemes." Shikamaru rubbed his temples. "Which explains why I'm at a disadvantage where the mundane is concerned. How troublesome."

"Sasuke-kun! Shikamaru! What are you doing?" A pink head of hair bobbed into their field of vision. "I actually had to come back all the way here to get you two! Everyone's waiting!" She clamped onto Sasuke's arm. "Mou, Sasuke-kun! It's so unusual of you to be in behind of everyone! I'll bet that Shikamaru was being lazy again and you were trying to get him to come."

Shikamaru lost interest in the conversation and trudged away. "Yeah, sure," he said.

Sasuke shook Sakura off his arm. "Hn," he said, and headed towards the site of the "get-together".

Sakura lingered behind with a frown. _That's odd. They seemed to be pretty deep in a conversation. I wonder what they were talking about? _

* * *

Ino was a very popular girl, there was no denying it. After all, she was blessed with the "golden princess" looks - that is, clear blue eyes and platinum blonde hair , velvety, milky skin, nice teeth, fine features, and a trim figure as neat as if it were carved out of soft marble. She was also stylish, clever, a loyal kunoichi from a good ninja family, a good confidante, and very knowledgeable in the arts of persuasion (or, in the case of those who knew her more intimately, more-than-slightly-forceful coercion). All in all, she was generally made out by others to be a veritable paragon of attractiveness both in the physical and in the personal sense.

But, like every other paragon of loveliness in the world, Ino had moments during which she was less-than-desirable company. And today, she had a little vendetta to settle with a incorrigible flirt - though the nature of this "flirtation" is to be dubiously examined - with pretty, dark eyes and a habit of yawning very frequently; and when Ino held a grudge, thunder and lightning seemed to surround her like mosquitoes would around a light at night.

However, as this terribly dashing flirt seemed to desire nothing more than to lie downlethargically under the shade of a large tree and ignore all visitors of his little haven as well as the friendly picnic taking place a few feet away, settling this little troublesome vendetta was proving to be more difficult than she had ever imagined. After all, in all great literary and cinematographic works, such things were done with active roles from the part of each enemy party in a terribly stylish, noisy way.

"Shikamaru, stop ignoring me!" Ino shrieked angrily, grabbing her sleepy friend by the collar of his net shirt.

Shikamaru slept on.

Ino stared at him for a few minutes, and noticed against her will how adorable a young man could look even when he was dangling off your arm like a limp noodle in his sleep. Especially when his ponytail resembled a dark, silky version of a pineapple. "Damn it, Shikamaru," she grumbled, "I'm sorry." Her brilliant plans of a passionate argument went up in smoke.

Shikamaru stirred for the first time since he had settled himself at the base of the fat pine tree and cracked one eye open. "Huh?" was his sluggish reaction.

A vein throbbed mightily in Ino's right temple. "Forget I even said anything, you idiot!" she yelled before dropping him back to the ground and stomping off. "You're nothing but a lazy halfwit!"

Minutes later, she returned sullenly to face a confused Shikamaru and crouched down to his level on the ground. "Tenten forced me to come back here," she mumbled. With what almost seemed like a pout, she reached out her arms to hug him awkwardly. "I really am sorry about what I had said, okay?" she said quietly, and looked expectantly at him.

Shikamaru froze. It wasn't that it was terribly unusual for Ino to give hugs, but he still had a certain incident in a bathroom freshly embedded in his mind. Though he would never admit it, he had, like most males in the world, a slightly perverted turn of mind. _It's those damn hormones_, he cursed silently. Wild flashes of thought ran through his mind, running along the lines of soft breasts pressing against his chest and warm, sweet breath filling his sensitive ear.

Before he knew it, Ino had leaned forward and pressed herself against him. Her lightly-scented hair brushed his cheek as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her nose and mouth resting at the crook of his neck, which was, by the way, also an extremely sensitive part of him. It was a very normal hug, but at the same time, it sent rushes through him that he wasn't sure had been quite as strong before. His body betrayed him by having his arms wrap around Ino's slender waist to pull her closer, and he could not stop himself from turning his head slightly to the side to press his lips against her silky hair. Everything about her seemed soft and pliant, a fact which greatly pleased the male instinct inside him, and his usually quick mind slowed down to a snail's pace to savor the moment.

Ino was suddenly very happy, though she didn't quite understand why. All she was capable of registering at the moment was that Shikamaru smelled strangely dark and delicious, and that the feeling of their bodies so close together was making her heart beat at a strangely fast pace. She didn't want to think - that would have ruined the experience. Instead, she only leaned in deeper, relished the feeling of absolute safety in strong arms, and basked in Shikamaru's distinctly masculine scent. _It feels so good_, was all that was coherent in her mind. Her eyes fluttered close.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" A loud, cheerful voice abruptly intruded their little world.

Shikamaru almost groaned in annoyance, but caught himself just in time. "Yeah?" he asked while glaring at a very troublesome blond ninja as Ino quickly pulled herself away.

A mischievous grin covered nearly half of Naruto's face. "Nothing," he said innocently. "I was just checking to see if you could even hear me."

Shikamaru desperately tried to suppress the rising blood in his face. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded gruffly, not daring to look at Ino.

"Oy, dobe. Stop bothering them and help us set up an extra blanket for the Godaime and the chuunins on guard duty."

Shikamaru never thought he'd ever see the day that he would actually be happy to see the taciturn Uchiha.

"Shikamaru, you too. The Godaime wants to talk to you as well as Naruto."

Shikamaru suddenly did not feel that his opinion of Sasuke had heightened. "This is so troublesome," he groused.

"What could that old hag have to say that's even remotely interesting?" Naruto groused as well, crossing his arms.

"How should I know?" Sasuke asked flatly. "Come on, or she's going to start harping at me, instead."

Shikamaru sighed, and with another comment of how troublesome life was, followed slowly behind Naruto and Sasuke.

Ino sat still just where she had been when she had hugged Shikamaru. _What was that?_ she wondered wildly, unconsciously clenching her hands in her lap. _And why did it feel so right?_

* * *

A.N. Alright, it's kind of a clichéd ending to a chapter, but I felt that it was suited to the story, which is a bit of a cliché, anyway. Besides, I've never written that particular line before, and it was actually pretty entertaining. Anyway, for the next chapter, I'm planning on an appearance of "Team Gai", more ShikaIno sweetness, and a lot more SasuNaru as well. In case anyone was wondering, I'm kind of using the SasuNaru pairing in this fic to sort of act as an omen of ShikaIno action. So, basically, the more sexual SasuNaru gets, ShikaIno will be just one step behind.


	3. The Power of Yakiniku

**Mendokuse**

* * *

Subtitle: The Woes of a Lazy Shinobi

* * *

_A ShikaIno story_

**Summary:** (ShikaIno and slight SasuNaru) Shikamaru would like nothing better than lazing around all day playing shogi or goh and watching the clouds; some things were just too troublesome to deal with. Especially hormones. Unfortunately, if there's one thing a teenage boy can't ignore, it's that.

* * *

**_Note to readers:_** **It might be a tiny bit confusing for people who haven't seen the episodes about Chouji (because they include scenes about Chouji and Shikamaru as little kids - LITTLE SHIKAMARU IS ADORABLE IN ALL HIS BABY GRUMPINESS!), so I apologize.

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**

Chapter Three: The Power of Yakiniku (a.k.a. BBQ)

* * *

Chouji was a very patient person. He was even doubly so in matters which concerned the welfare of his best friend, Shikamaru. In fact, he cared just as much about the lazy chuunin's welfare as he did the last piece of yakinoku or chip. However, it was extremely difficult for him to be patient with Shikamaru's problems because, for the moment, they revolved mainly around a certain person who had a tendency to complicate anything that she was involved in, conscious as well as not. 

It had not been unexpected, really. Chouji had known subconsciously from the start that something like this would happen. From the very moment Ino had poked her pretty little five-year-old head into grumpy little five-year-old Shikamaru's room and big pools of clear blue had met somewhat big pools of dark green-gray, fate had been sealed. He could still remember exactly how that meeting had gone, as if it were yesterday.

* * *

_Chouji was elated that he had finally made a friend. _Shikamaru_, he repeated to himself in his mind so as not to forget it. It was, after all, a long name to remember for a little boy. Shikamaru's last name was easier to remember, on the other hand, though Chouji could not see any resemblance between his friend and a deer. He briefly entertained the idea of Shikamaru with antlers, then laughed at how ridiculous it looked._

"_I'm going!" he said loudly while eagerly pulling on his sandals._

"_Chouji, where are you going?" His mother appeared from the kitchen with a surprised look on her face, ladle still in hand._

"_A friend invited me to his house!" Chouji exclaimed happily. "He said he would teach me a game... I think it's called 'ko' or 'no', or..."_

"_Do you mean 'go'?" Chouji's mother interrupted with astonishment._

"_Yeah! That's it!" He looked up at his mother inquiringly. "What's the matter?"_

"_That's a rather odd game for youngsters like you to play..." She frowned and looked down at him. "Darling, exactly how old is this friend of yours?" she asked cautiously. "I'm glad that you made a new friend, but it might be better for you to play more with children your age."_

"_Shikamaru is my age," Chouji protested. "He's in my class in the Academy, and he's five, just like me!"_

"_Eh?" His mother nearly fell over in surprise. "_Five_? And he plays go? But that's an old man's game! Even your father avoids it like the plague - it's extremely time consuming and complex. Are you sure that this Shikamaru-kun knows how to play it? I don't mind you learning, it's good for strategic training, but you won't be able to understand it. What family is Shikamaru-kun from?" She looked at him curiously._

"_The Nara family," Chouji answered immediately. "His name is Nara Shikamaru."_

_His mother was silent for a moment, then sighed heavily. "Well, that explains a lot," she said aloud to herself._

"_Explains what?" Chouji wanted to know._

"_The Nara family has always had unusually intelligent children. Nara Shikato must be his father. That's the only Nara family I know of from Konoha. Now that I think of it, I think that he's mentioned that his son's name is Shikamaru."_

"_Shikato?" A heavy voice boomed. "That lazy good-for-nothing?" Chouji's father tramped loudly down the stairs, chuckling generously._

"_Tou-san!" Chouji exclaimed, surprised. "You're awake!"_

"_I'm glad you're friends with that young Nara," Chouji's father said with a wide smile. "His father and I are actually good friends." He laughed. "It's ironical that Shikato was also the first close friend I ever made. That Shikamaru seems to take after his father, both in laziness as well as choice of friends."_

_Chouji stared at his father, not quite understanding what was going on._

"_Well, go on, Chouji. You'll be late if you keep standing there like that with your mouth wide open," his father said in a good-humored voice._

"_Okay," he said obediently, and ran off.

* * *

_

"_Hey," was the first thing Shikamaru uttered upon opening the door for Chouji. "My room's upstairs. Want anything to drink?"_

"_Uh..." Chouji stared at Shikamaru. The boy looked like he had just crawled out of bed. His dark hair was in a lopsided ponytail with strands sticking out here and there, his eyes were bleary and heavy-lidded, and his clothes were wrinkled and mussed. On one foot, he wore a dark green sock, and the other was bare. Chouji then realized that he was actually quite thirsty from the walk and nodded meekly._

"_Okay, follow me, then." Shikamaru closed the door behind Chouji and waited while Chouji removed his sandals before plodding ungracefully to the kitchen with languorous steps. "What do you want?"_

"_Uh, water, I guess," Chouji said awkwardly. This was the first time he had ever been to a friend's house._

_Shikamaru yawned as he dove his hand into the refrigerator. "I set up the go board in my room," he told Chouji, "but then I got sleepy because my mom was talking to me about troublesome adult things and took a nap."_

"_Oh," was all that Chouji could think of to say._

_Shikamaru didn't seem to care that silence had fallen between the two of them. In fact, he looked extremely comfortable with it; so comfortable that Chouji was starting to consider taking a nap as well before seeing friends. It was obviously very therapeutic._

_After Chouji finished his glass of water, they moved upstairs. Shikamaru's room was extremely bare and had a dull color scheme composed of the same green-gray of his eyes and white. The first thing that Chouji noticed was that there were a lot of big books in the small room. He have up trying to read the titles when he realized that most of the words on the covers were big ones he did not understand. Glancing at a book that lay open on the floor to the side, he realized with surprise that there were no pictures in it, and that the writing was very small and compact._

_Shikamaru settled down on the floor next to his goban (the name of the strange, lined board sitting low in the middle of his room) and started to explain the rules of the game. The more he explained the rules, the more Chouji was confused. He told Shikamaru so, and was thankful that the other boy didn't mind._

"_A lot of kids don't like go," Shikamaru commented. "It doesn't really matter. Do you want me to start over?"_

Not really_, was what was running through Chouji's mind, but he gulped it down and nodded._

_Shikamaru eyed him shrewdly. "Okay, let's do something else," he said nonchalantly, in a sudden burst of benignity._

_Chouji felt immensely relieved. "Why don't we play 'ninja'?" he suggested eagerly._

_Shikamaru considered it. "It's troublesome, but I guess we could. We're only two people, though, so it might be boring."_

"_Maybe we can go outside and look for more people to play with," Chouji suggested._

"_I'll play."_

"_Huh?" Both Chouji and Shikamaru looked around them before their eyes landed on a head of short, light blonde hair poking out from behind the doorway._

"_I said I'll play," the girl repeated, almost as if they were mentally impaired. "Is it that hard to understand?" she demanded impatiently. She stepped confidently into the room._

_She was pretty and a delicate-looking thing, with soft hair and large, pale blue eyes. She stood at Chouji's height, maybe even a little taller, and was neatly attired in a light, sky-blue summer dress. Pretty little pins held up her hair and a gauzy, sheer blue ribbon finished off the look. What with delicate features and rosy cheeks, she looked like a porcelain doll. The only things that set her apart from one, though, were eyes flashing with spirit and a stubborn jaw._

_Shikamaru stared at her as if she were from another planet - well, frankly, to him, girls were like a foreign species altogether. "How did you get in here?" he wanted to know._

"_Your mommy told me to come up here because she wants to talk to my mommy," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So? What are we waiting for? Let's go outside and play ninja."_

"_I don't want to play anymore," Shikamaru said grumpily. He pulled himself up from the floor as if with a huge burst of effort and flopped down onto his bed. "I don't like girls," he said, his voice muffled by his pillow. "They're troublesome. Go away, Girl."_

_Chouji didn't know what to do, so he looked back at the girl. He proceeded to be slightly alarmed by the way a vein seemed to be throbbing violently in the girl's temple. _

"_MY NAME IS YAMANAKO INO!" she screamed angrily in a high-pitched voice. "AND I THINK YOU'RE REALLY, REALLY STUPID!" And with that, she punched Shikamaru in the side with unexpected strength._

_Shikamaru rolled off his bed and fell to the floor from the force of the punch. "Oof," he said, and lay still on the ground with a blank face._

_Little Chouji was very distraught.

* * *

_

Chouji sweatdropped a little at the memory. That had been a memorable day. Ino had stomped off, outraged, but was dragged back in by her scandalized mother, who forced her to apologize. Shikamaru's mother then joined the fray and yelled at her son, who apologized calmly to Ino - unfortunately, she was even more angered by the fact that the lazy little boy was taking the whole business so lightly -, and then both mothers ordered Shikamaru and Ino to stay in the room to reconcile with each other while they ushered the fretting little Chouji to the kitchen to give him cookies.

According to Shikamaru later on, all he had done was sleep; a little later, Ino had woken him up, strangely pacified, to make him give her a pinky promise that they would become good friends, and then dragged him downstairs to show their mothers that they had made peace. How and why Ino had calmed down was a mystery to both Shikamaru and Chouji. Chouji had asked Ino about the matter a little while later, but Ino had looked at him with a blank face and had said that "Shikamaru is cute when he sleeps." Of course, Chouji hadn't understood what that had to do with anything, but he decided that it didn't matter and gave up on the subject entirely after a week.

Given the particular nature of Ino and Shikamaru's relationship, it had been obvious that romance would become involved somehow. One, they were both physically attractive (though it wasn't until Shikamaru had entered his mid-teens that people noticed his unique, grumpy charm). Two, they were unusually close, though they wouldn't admit it out loud. There were many other reasons, but the especially prominent one was that there was an incredible amount of sexual tension between them ever since Ino had realized that Shikamaru was male (consequently possessing certain "attributes" that she did not), and Shikamaru that Ino was growing into a woman (again, consequently possessing certain "attributes" that _he_ did not).

Chouji remembered a time when he himself had been attracted to Ino. It wasn't that it was unnatural, but it had felt strange that he liked a girl who much resembled a nagging older sister. He had known that he had no chances, however, Ino being who she was, and that weakened the attraction somewhat. This continued until he had talked himself out of it for quite a long time. No one, not even Shikamaru, knew of this past little secret crush. It was too embarrassing, Chouji felt. And now, Shikamaru was pretty much going through the same phase as him, though much stronger in intensity. The thing about Shikamaru was that when he cared about someone: he really, really cared. It was extremely likely that it would be the same where love and attraction were concerned. It didn't seem like it, but Chouji knew that Shikamaru actually had extremely intense feelings.

Unfortunately, having intense feelings also means that when hurt, he is intensely hurt. Chouji would do everything in his power to prevent that.

_The trouble is_, Chouji groaned inwardly, _I have no idea of how to go about doing that_. Nevertheless, he was determined to meddle.

* * *

Shikamaru flopped down on his bed with a long sigh. Yawning, he reached up and tugged his hair loose. Dark hair spilled messily on the pillow as he put his head down and stared at his white-washed, dull ceiling. Slowly, he savored the feeling of relaxing muscles tensed up from a day's hard work - today, it had been a demanding mission involving a missing child at the hands of two missing-nin. 

Shikamaru frowned and rubbed his eyes wearily. For some reason, his conversation with Sasuke from the day before continued to haunt him. As Shikamaru trusted his instincts, he concluded that there must have been something about the conversation which had subconsciously nagged at him. What was it, he wondered? Did it have something to do with the fact that whenever his life collided with Sasuke's, troublesome things seemed to occur? Or did it have to do with Sasuke himself and his strange behavior?

This would not do. His thoughts were in a mess, and that would only be troublesome for him. Reluctantly, he sat up and assumed his thinking position. With ease that could have only resulted from extensive practice, he soon had his mind cleared to satisfaction.

Now, to tackle the problem. Perhaps the answer lay in the dialogue. Shikamaru quickly ran over the things that had been said, which he could remember quite clearly, considering the unusual nature of the entire affair. Absently, he noted that Sasuke had betrayed that his love interest was a kunoichi, and not just some village girl.

A kunoichi. A female ninja. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Maybe this was the tip of the iceberg he had sensed. Sasuke had unwittingly informed him more about the girl than he had obviously intended. For example, Sasuke had let slip that she was extremely dense. _No wonder he's still not a jounin, despite his abilities,_ he thought wryly. Well, dense kunoichi his and Sasuke's age were rare in ninja villages, considering the natural conniving nature of women in general - ninja training merely served to sharpen this trait.

One thing was for sure: whoever this girl was, she was obviously very attracted to Uchiha Sasuke, if not already in love with him like most of Konoha's female population (sadly enough, Shikamaru personally knew one or two married women who had less-than-orthodox thoughts about Sasuke). He briefly wondered with a pang if, by any chance, Sasuke had been talking about Ino. He dismissed the thought easily, however, knowing the extreme unlikeliness of the situation; after all, Ino was still very openly pursuing Sasuke, announcing left and right how much she "loooved Sasuke-kun". There was no way that Sasuke could possibly think that Ino was hesitant in her affections for him the way he had expressed this mysterious girl was. Sasuke may be slightly thick considering some matters, but he wasn't stupid.

A kunoichi who doesn't throw herself at Sasuke. There certainly weren't many of those. _She might be easier to find than expected, after all_, Shikamaru noted absently to himself. First, kunoichi that he knew. _Hm_, he thought with a frown, _the only person I can think of is Hyuuga Hinata... and she likes Naruto_. _She also isn't dense, though people might get that impression from her retiring nature._ He then briefly went over the older and younger kunoichi he knew by face and abilities, but did not know personally. Shikamaru had all the faces and names of the inhabitants of Konoha and their allies memorized on Tsunade's orders, in case of a spy in the village or some other trouble (he could still remember Tsunade's gleeful look when she had discovered through his mother what exactly he was capable of doing with his extensive memory). A few names came to mind, but Shikamaru was pretty sure that Sasuke's acquaintances did not include them. Still, it never hurt to make sure.

Shikamaru sighed. _This is too troublesome_, he groused mentally. _I'll think about it later_. He flopped back down on his bed and was ready to fall asleep when someone knocked on his room's door.

"Someone up there must hate me," Shikamaru muttered to himself. "Yes," he called out loudly, "come in."

The door creaked open, and a slightly nervous-looking Ino stepped in. Shikamaru, startled, quickly sat up. "Ino? What are you doing here?"

Ino now stood before him with the nervous look decidedly fixed on her face. "Uh, well," she said in a somewhat meek and subdued voice which made Shikamaru raise his eyebrows, "I thought maybe we could talk a little and hang out... You know, since you were gone for such a long time and all." Her jittery hands clasped and unclasped; her gaze did not quite meet his, which annoyed him more than he would ever admit.

"What's wrong with you?" Shikamaru frowned suspiciously, sitting up. "Did you do something troublesome?"

Ino scowled. "No," she snapped. "Do you always have to be like that when I'm trying to be nice?"

"You don't try to be nice unless you want something or unless you feel sorry about something," said Shikamaru pointedly.

"You make me sound like a petty, spoiled brat," Ino frowned.

Shikamaru didn't reply and gave her a sort of blank stare which conveyed the liveliness of a large pebble. An angry vein ticked momentarily at Ino's temple. "Are you trying to suggest something?" she demanded.

"I didn't say anything," Shikamaru said defensively.

Ino glared at him. "You don't need to," she retorted. "Your body language practically drips sarcasm."

"I'm not sarcastic," Shikamaru replied, looking completely serious.

"Of course not," Ino said, looking steely.

"Well, not that this conversation isn't fascinatingly lively," Shikamaru grumped, "but do you mind telling me what this little visit is all about?"

"Is it a crime to want to go see a friend?" Ino asked crossly.

"It's not exactly a common practice in the case of friends who are at odds with each other," Shikamaru reasoned with a gracious affability which belied his expression.

"We _aren't_ at odds with each other, are we?" Ino was suddenly anxious and sincere. She moved forward to sit beside Shikamaru on the bed and reached out to clasp one of his work-roughened hands on his lap in her own. Shikamaru tensed. Ino didn't notice, and went on. "I don't want to fight with you, Shikamaru," she said softly, trying to catch his eyes with hers and suppressing the blush that threatened to bloom in her cheeks at the feeling of his warm fingers entwined with hers. "You're one of my best friends in the world. I feel really bad when we argue like this. I know you're mad at me, but I still don't know why. I want you to tell me, so we can fix things and go back to normal. It's weird, fighting like this, and I want to make peace."

Shikamaru swallowed as he looked up and saw her pleading, light blue eyes. He felt something melt inside of him as he stared. There was no possible way that he could deny Ino anything when she was like this. "I'm not mad," he said gruffly, trying to conceal his overwhelmed emotions and senses at their proximity.

Ino was so relieved at those three words that she threw herself at him in a warm embrace. Shikamaru tensed, and before he could stop himself, he blushed furiously. Because he blushed, however, he quickly put his arms around Ino as well as to keep her in the hug - common sense dictated that if she was hugging him, she would not be able to see his blush.

_I'm so pathetic_, Shikamaru thought with irritation. _And... why does she keep hugging me like this? It does insane things to guys that I don't think she knows about! _Jealously, he thought, _She'd better not do this to other guys, too..._

"Why are you mad at me?" Ino murmured softly into his shoulder. She unconsciously tightened her grip on the fabric of his dark shirt and turned her head slightly so she could press her face into the curve of his neck.

Shikamaru felt lightheaded and more comfortable than he did sitting on his favorite cloud-watching spot. For a while, he had an insane urge to pull down this soft, sweetly-  
scented creature with him to his pillow and fall asleep as if he were holding the best teddy bear in the world.

Distantly, in the back of his mind, he noted that comparing the object of his desire to a teddy bear was most likely unforgivably unromantic.

"Forget it," he mumbled. "It doesn't matter, now." His heart beat erratically in his chest as he buried his nose into her silky hair. The moment was interrupted by the distinctive sound of fluttering wings. Shikamaru glanced up and saw a haughty-looking falcon staring at him with beady little eyes from his windowsill. _Damn,_ he thought angrily as his eyes made out the tiny scroll attached to its right leg. _I should have left my window closed_.

"Hold on," he told Ino before untangling himself to go to the bird. Upon a closer view, he saw that it bored the seal of the Hokage in red - it was an urgent message. Quickly, he unfastened the scroll from its leg and rolled it open. As he scanned the lines, his face began to scrunch up. "A mission? Now?" he muttered aloud to himself.

"But you just came back!" Ino was instantly at his side. "She can't do this! You're being overworked! Shikamaru, you shouldn't let them take advantage of you like this!"

Shikamaru smiled secretly to himself. There were times when Ino sounded almost like a wife - _his _wife. A warm, tingling feeling sparked inside of him as he listened to her ramble on.

"Most jounins get at least a one-month-long vacation per year in addition to certain free days and gaps between missions, but so far you've only had a day here or there off! Say something to them! You should demand your rights as a citizen of Konoha!"

_I probably should_, Shikamaru mused briefly, then suddenly pictured a Tsunade purple with rage. _Or maybe not.

* * *

_

"You've got to be joking." Tsunade closed her eyes as if pained. "Let me get this straight." She opened her eyes and glared at the dark-haired shinobi standing stiffly before her. "You want Naruto to be _permanently_ teamed up with you and _only_ you- _without his knowing anything about it_?"

Sasuke stared at her silently, the stubborn set of his chin giving her all the answer she needed.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," Tsunade muttered. "I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation in the first place. Honestly, Uchiha, what in the world gave you the notion that I'd ever agree to this ridiculous plan of yours?"

"I'm willing to pay money," Sasuke said bluntly.

A vein throbbed dangerously at Tsunade's temple. "_Excuse me_?" she barked angrily. "Do you actually think that I can be _bought_? I have principles, you know!"

Sasuke had the grace to look slightly sheepish. "I just said it... in case," he admitted.

Tsunade suddenly looked away with a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. "Er..." she said gruffly, "... how much?"

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up. He intently fixed his dark eyes on her. "Well," he said tentatively, "as I was bequeathed all the money of the entire Uchiha clan, I can offer a considerably generous amount. Maybe..." He discreetly held up four fingers. He wondered inwardly if it was quite legal to pass around that much money in Konoha. _Oh well... she's the Hokage, after all_.

Tsunade's eyes widened minutely, but otherwise showed no sign of surprise. With a tiny cough, she held up five fingers. "This much and it's a deal," she muttered.

Sasuke smirked. "Then it's a deal."

Ten minutes later, Sasuke left the Hokage tower, elated. _Now, Naruto is all mine. _The people who passed by him noted a new spring to his step.

Meanwhile, Tsunade stared at a simply gorgeous piece of paper with her name on it, and a number with many, many digits next to it. _Should I feel guilty?_ she mused, then remembered how Naruto had gleefully splashed her with some of his ramen's soup earlier this morning. _Never mind_, she thought vengefully.

* * *

**A.N.** Sorry about this! I took so long to update, _and_ it's short and not-so-eventful! Everyone was being so nice, too... T.T' Somehow, I feel like a terrible person. I'll try to make it up with the next chapter, though! 


End file.
